In order to help equalize the varying needs of Dad vs. the Kids for hiking in
a given day, it is sometimes advantageous for me to get up early and get a peak
in while the kids are sleeping or watching cartoons. So it was that I left the
motel in Yreka at 5a in order to pay an early morning visit to nearby Indian
Creek Baldy, a P2K summit.
I had no beta from other hikers, but it seemed fairly
straightforward to drive east on Greenhorn Rd to a junction at Deadwood Creek,
southeast of the peak. The old town of Deadwood, once a thriving community in
this neck of the woods was located here. Today, only a
bronze monument remains
of the town. Greenhorn Rd was an excellent dirt road, but the side road up
Deadwood Creek was decidedly less so. I was able to drive the van a few miles
up the road before I lost confidence in my vehicles abilities.
I was looking for, and found, a logging
road that switchbacks up the east side of Indian Creek Baldy - this would be
my ascent route. A shorter route can be had from the northwest (and used by
Evan Rasmussen, I later found) by continuing north and then west up the
Deadwood Creek Road.

The road I followed switchbacked in long stretches up the east side. All the
timber on the mountain was second growth and it appears to be currently used
for occasional firewood collecting. It took but an hour and a half to reach
the summit, about 2,500ft up and 2.5mi from my starting point at the creek.
I broke out onto a grassy slope
just before the summit and was happy to see this
continue up and over the top.
This allowed for fine views from the clearing.
About the only features I could recognize were Mts. Shasta to
the southeast and McLoughlin to the north.
A register had been placed in 2006 by San Diego
highpointer Richard Carey. Other names I recognized included
Evan Rasmussen, Andy Martin, and Ken Jones,
among the scant entries.

The return went much quicker since I decided on a more direct descent rather
than follow the road and its switchbacks. I was back at
the creek in only 30
minutes, and back at the van a few minutes later. I collected my things along
with my children back in Yreka, then drove north into Oregon. Not far past the
border we got off the interstate and drove up to the
Mt. Ashland ski area for a visit to Mt. Ashland, another P2K summit.
This was an easy hike of less than 700ft and barely more
than a mile, one my kids could hardly complain about (though they did, to some
degree). A better vehicle than ours could make the drive all the way to the
summit.

It took little more than half an hour to reach the top.
There is a large, golfball-like communications structure
in a clearing nearby. The summit rocks were thankfully left unmolested. We
scrambled about these until we found the highest one. Ryan
continued to a lower, but more impressive collection where
he found a meditation rock with a fine view of Mt. Shasta.
Jackie possessed
more energy that needed a release, and found a large
patch of snow on the
north-facing slope that would do nicely. She hiked down to the snow, collected
what she could carry in her hat and brought it back up to the summit. She and
I then took turns using her brother for
target practice. Naturally, he did not
find this a wise use of our time and protested. We continued pelting anyway -
what do brothers know? Ryan would catch a few missles and hurtle them back at
us, but he was at a distinct disadvantage. Minutes later our supply of snow
and ice ran out, as did that bit of our fun.

A nearby chairlift provided some additional amusement. A large concrete
counterweight hung off to one side and the kids were intrigued that they could
climb under it without being crushed. Ryan gave a
Superman pose, saving his
sister from the crushing weight. On our way back to the car we stopped at a
collection of boulders
off to one side to see if we could climb them. The hardest
was probably 5.8 or 5.9, too hard for even Dad to climb, though we did
not leave without giving it a try (and failing).

Back in the car we drove out
to Interstate 5 and north to Medford where we were
to stay for the next three nights. Mom would be flying in
to join us that
evening, but we still had some six or seven hours to kill. The kids wanted a
break so I left them for the second time that day, this time to climb yet
another
P2K summit, Mt. Isabelle. Located about 15 miles west of Medford, it was not
hard to find a series of roads that got me within about a mile of the summit.
A gate
stopped me at a saddle on the south side of the summit, but it was an
easy matter to hike up the road to the top.
A tall antenna mast is found aside
a small utility building where an old lookout used to stand (the
concrete foundations
are still there, but nothing else). I climbed about 2/3 of the way
up the antenna
structure to improve the views which were poor at ground level
due to the surrounding trees. It was only after my descent that I noticed a
summit register off to the west side
of the tower clearing. It had been placed by Richard Carey
on the same day he had placed the register on Indian Creek
Baldy. And here I'd thought I was the first to combine these two summits on the
same day. Go figure.